Dive Bomber by Pete Johnson

All right, let's dive into Dive Bomber by Pete Johnson. This is a classic boogie, sort of medium fast tempo. It's not as fast as some boogies out there, but it races along and has some great moves in it. It's very improvisational in its nature.

Pete Johnson comes from that jazz-rich heritage of Kansas City, known for its swinging style of piano playing. So, make sure you're listening to the way Pete Johnson swings as well.

Overview

We'll go through the whole piece, chorus by chorus. I'm going to show you the way I play it in terms of fingering and ideas, and how you can use those ideas in your own improvisations. After all, this is improvised music.

Introduction

Let's start off with the introduction. The intro is based on... and then we're into the first chorus.

Key Points:

• In the left hand, we have a C chord in first inversion.
• In the right hand, we have that line featuring:
  • A nice false relation: E flat minor third and E major third, which is characteristic of a lot of American music.
  • Another beautiful, full syrup relation.

This leads to some slightly odd harmony going from a C to a B. Now, it's a B in first inversion, spread out over a tenth.

Harmony Breakdown

• Left Hand Harmonies:
  • C to B
  • Intense to A
  • D diminished to C sharp (or D flat diminished)
  • D minor

In terms of fingering in the right hand, there's brilliant movement between major and minor.

Tips for Playing

If you can't reach a tenth, don't fear; you can still play those chords with a different inversion. For example:

• Chords Sequence:
  • C to B
  • D diminished
  • D flat diminished
  • D minor

You could also consider a different inverted structure, which still works nicely, even if it doesn't have the richness of the tenths.

Creative Play:

Experiment with different inversions. Perhaps Pete Johnson just played something spontaneous that day in the studio. Maybe on another day, he could have done something like this:

• Play around with those chords in the left hand with some different pentatonic bass lines in the right.

Enjoy exploring this distinctive intro!